Anonymous is Occupying the vote

Trent Nouveau, 28th February 2012

Anonymous and the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) movement are teaming up for an election year campaign to "hold politicians accountable to the people."

"Elected officials serve one purpose - to represent their constituents, the people who voted them into office," cyber activists linked to the collective explained in an online communiqué.

"Last year, many of our elected officials let us down by giving in to deep-pocketed lobbyists and passing laws meant to boost corporate profits at the expense of individual liberty."

According to Anonymous, American senators and representatives demonstrated how little they cared about personal freedoms when they voted to pass the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) - which allows for the indefinite detention of individuals based merely on a suspicion or allegation of sympathizing with questionable groups or causes.

"This act is a prominent threat to the inalienable due process rights of every US citizen as laid out in the Constitution. It allows the military to engage in civilian law enforcement, and to suspend due process, habeas corpus or other constitutional guarantees when desired," said the collective.

"Our congressmen passed one of the greatest threats to civil liberties in the history of the United States. Will we hold them accountable on election day? Will we hold our elected officials accountable for supporting rigid Internet censorship laws such as SOPA, PIPA, HR 1981 and the ACTA treaty?"

The group also noted that the above-mentioned proposed laws were lobbied and paid for by Hollywood, RIAA, MPAA, along with other massive media companies.

"Even if the goal was to merely regulate pirated content, the ambiguous wording demonstrates the authors and supporters of SOPA and PIPA have little-to-no understanding of the Internet's architecture or the frightening implications of the legislation."

As such, the collective is urging the public to use its vote to hold elected officials responsible for supporting the controversial legislation.

"We are calling on voters, activists and keyboard warriors under all banners to unite as a single force to unseat the elected representatives who threaten our essential freedoms and who were so quick to minimize our individual constitutional rights for a quick corporate profit."